“Coding” Is Not Enough: The Role of Long “Noncoding” RNA for Cocaine Addiction

Cocaine exposure causes long-lasting and persistent molecular changes in the brain, particularly in areas that play an important role in reward, such as the striatum and the nucleus accumbens (ventral striatum) where molecular memory is formed. These molecular adaptations, some rightly viewed as maladaptations, mostly result from gene expression changes caused by alterations of transcription factors and/or epigenetic regulations through chromatin modification (1). Posttranscriptional gene regulation also contributes because microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to function as molecular regulators that control actions of cocaine in brain reward circuits  (2).

Source: Biological Psychiatry - October 19, 2020 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Yonwoo Jung Tags: Early Career Investigator Commentary Source Type: research